"Where is Achillas? Bring me Achillas! Ahhhh.... Bring him to me!"
While the grassroots men of the two families worked to hash out their differences using their fists outside, from inside the largest tent in the center of the camp, came this undisguised, livid roar, its originator being a stranger to no one.
It went without saying Lord Parker found himself going utterly ballistic upon learning of Achillas's fate.
Especially when he was informed of the details about how he was taken and the treachery and carelessness it all involved.
Simply recalling even the tiniest fraction of it made his heart palpate with white hot rage and caused his blood to bubble and boil.
Thus Lord Parker vented on all those responsible, even those responsible only by the most remotest of the possibilities.
"Yo... you idiots! All of you idiots dare stand in front of me! After what you have done! You... I will have all you of hang for this! Ahhhhh...."
These acrid, loathsome, vituperator words were all shot out directly towards a lined group of armored men, all of whom had their heads lowered so much that they were directly facing their feet, their necks turned nearly perpendicular to their spine.
They imagined being able to almost feel the wrathful heat coming off of their commander in the form of radiant heat and having never seen the man not even half as mad ever, many had their countenances become pale and bitter, their bodies visibly shivering.
The gathered group of men that Lord Parker was lambasting included every officer of note that had been deployed today.
This meant that it was not only the officers who directly took part in the fighting and were a part of Achillas's unit who were the target of Lord Parker's indiscriminate rage, but even the officers who had seemed nothing to do with the incident.
People such as Lord Kite who was in another theater of the war altogether, and true to his worries, even that new commander who was only sent out at the last minute as reinforcements, and did not even see Achillas.
In the eyes of the currently half insane ducal lord, however, all such details were merely irrelevant mundanities not worth even sparing a second glance at.
All these men had taken part in the fighting today just like Achillas had and that was all that mattered to Lord Parker, all that was needed for him to make the judgment.
And thus towards all of them, he decided to declare the exact same verdict- guilty!
Then immediately after coming to this decision, the enraged lord also declared their punishment, being not content with just labeling them as guilty,
"Kill them! Kill them all!"
Yes, Lord Parker had reached this level of madness as wildly swinging his hands, he turned to shout this towards the numerous guards flanking him around the tent, ordering them to free their swords and dye the floor with blood.
"Mercy! Mercy my lord! We beg you!"
"We had no knowledge of it! We had no way of knowing anything!"
"My lord! That's right! We swear to the old gods and new! We knew nothing!"
"If we had even an inkling of an idea that the General had been taken then even a thousand deaths would not have stopped us from getting him back. We swear!"
"It is the Margraves family's fault! It was all that Bernard Margrave's fault! He is the traitor! They are the ones who lost the general. He plotted to capture him!"
And whatever their faults or merits were in the grand scheme of things, it did not matter.
It was thinking as such that Lord Parker imperiously lifted his right hand, then with a wave of his palms signaled to the nearby soldiers, indicating for them to start carrying out his will.
The guards that were being asked to carry out this task initially exchanged a few looks of doubt and confusion with each other at this completely unexpected development and clearly hesitated.
It was very apparent that rage had temporarily consumed their lord and to carry out such a dubious massacre appeared very ill advise.
However, at the end of the day, none of them dared to step forward and challenge it.
It was way above their pay scale.
Even if he was clearly not in the best of conditions, these lowly footmen were not given the power to judge, especially not someone of Lord Parker's stature.
They were only paid to hear and obey.
*Clang*, *Clang*, *Clang*
Thus quickly grabbing the hilts of their swords, they stepped forward, eyes turning sharp and determined.
And seeing this, the dozen or so officers despaired.
Of course, none of them dared resist the command even now, even as death approached, even when it was blatantly wrong. Because they were brought up that way, brought up to always obey their superior no matter how insane that order might have been.
So instead of standing up and running, or even better, making a suicidal dash towards Lord Parker with a dagger in hand willing to commit double suicide, all the men simply stayed there kneeling, bracing themselves for the swing of death's scythe.
"What are you doing you fools? Get back to your posts!"
Luckily for them, just as the tent was about to turn into an absolute bloodbath, this aged but very still very commanding shout rang out right from Lord Parker's sides, and all movements instantly froze.
The soldiers found themselves seemingly paralyzed, and when one of the bravest guards dared to utter with gritted teeth,
"This is the lord's order!",
A loud burst of childing instantly followed suit, "Then stop following this nonsensical order!"
Let us say no to piracy! Don't take part in a crime! Don't patronize thieves!
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